'Tracey Fragments'

Rating:

May 9, 2008

In this flawed but occasionally powerful short feature, Ellen Page ("Juno," "Smart People") doesn't exactly stretch herself playing a teenager with the snark and smarts of a 40-year-old. Here she's Tracey Berkowitz, one of those depressed, sensitive misfits destined to become a punk-rocker, a poet or both. (The script, by Maureen Medved, is based on her novel.)

As Tracey rides a bus in search of her lost little brother, she reflects on the various villains in her life: callous parents, impossibly cruel schoolmates, boys and their base desires. Director Bruce McDonald takes his film's title literally, splintering the screen into multiple boxes and even shard-shapes, creating some enjoyably wild mosaics. (Rock band Broken Social Scene provides effective accompaniment.) But because the film views the world as Tracey does, in teenage black-and-white, you may find yourself wanting to hop off the bus before the end.

THE TRACEY FRAGMENTS (unrated). 1:17 (violence, language, sexual themes). At City Cinemas Village East, Manhattan. - RAFER GUZMÁN